A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN DERMATOGLYPHICS OF THE PALM IN NORMAL CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME IN RIYADH REGION, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Musaad A. Al-Fayez1 , Tahani A. Al-Matrafi1 , Saeed M. Abuel-Makarem1 ,Raeesa A. Mohamed1,2, Muhammad Atteya1,2
1Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Dermatoglyphics is the study of the patterns of the epidermal ridges of digits, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. The proximal and distal transverse palmar flexion creases sometimes are replaced by or joined into one single crease, which traverses the whole palm. This single transverse flexion crease is usually referred to as a Simian crease or line. One of the most important applications of dermatoglyphics analysis is in Down's syndrome (trisomy 21) which was described clinically by Langdon Down in (1866), but its chromosomal nature was first recognized in 1959. Many features of dermatoglyphics characterize Down's syndrome such as increased frequency of Simian and Sydney lines. The aim of this work is to establish the frequency of the presence of Simian and Sydney lines in the normal and Down's syndrome children in Riyadh region in Saudi Arabia and to study if there is a gender differences in palm prints in Down's children. The present study was done on 130 Saudi children (110 Saudi Down's syndrome children and 20 normal children). All children were Saudi natives, including the mother of the child. Palm prints were taken for the two groups to study and to compare the frequency of the presence of Simian and Sydney lines in the normal and Down's syndrome children in both hands. Our study shows that the Simian line frequency in Down's syndrome children increased 10 times fold in both hands and in both sexes than that of the normal children. Sydney line frequency in Down's syndrome children increased 1-2 times fold than that of the normal children. In conclusion, the findings of this study showed an increased Simian and Sydney lines frequencies in all individual with Down syndrome than that of normal children. Also there were no difference in the Simian, and Sydney lines frequencies between male and female in Down's children.
June 2013